October 31, 2025 • 46 mins
This week on The Bánh Mì Chronicles, host Randy Kim brings you an urgent, on-the-ground report with Lilly Le (she/her), Community Organizing Director at the Vietnamese Association of Illinois (VAI). Lilly works to build community power among Vietnamese people in Illinois through engagement and leadership development.
In this critical discussion, we address the twin crises currently impacting Vietnamese and other immigrant communities in Chicago, particularly in the Argyle Street area of Uptown:
The Climate of Fear: Lilly shares how the recent, highly-publicized ICE raids are instilling widespread fear and anxiety in the Vietnamese community across the Chicagoland area.
The SNAP Crisis: We discuss the severe impact of the current interruption and changes to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, threatening food security for elders and low-income families.
VAI’s Action Plan: Lilly outlines the immediate, vital work VAI and its community partners are doing to inform the public of their rights, provide legal and material resources, and offer essential mutual aid and support to those affected.
Community Impact: Lilly speaks to the lasting effects of these political and humanitarian crises and how Vietnamese individuals are processing and mobilizing against the escalating threats to their safety and stability.
This conversation is essential listening for understanding the immediate need for mutual aid and community power-building in a time of crisis.
Support VAI’s Work:
Vietnamese Association of Illinois (VAI):
https://hnvi.org/
VAI IG: https://www.instagram.com/vai_chicago/
Note to listeners: VAI provides a range of services including Legal Assistance and Immigrant and Refugee Resources.
Linh “Lilly” Le (she/her) is a Community Services Manager at the Vietnamese Association of Illinois. Her work focuses on building community and power among Vietnamese people in Illinois through intergenerational community engagement and leadership development. Before joining VAI, she was a student organizer with UChicago United at the University of Chicago, fighting for material resources and building power among students of color and the surrounding community. She received her BA in Sociology and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies from the University of Chicago. Lilly is committed to grassroots power-building work to equip our communities with tools for healing and self-determination.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
Hi everyone, this is Randy Kim from the Bonnie Chronicles
podcast. In today, I am doing an
emergency episode in the coverage of the ICE raids that
have been happening throughout the Chicagoland area and I am
welcoming in Lily Lay. Lily has been a community
service manager at the Vietnamese Association of
(00:26):
Illinois, otherwise known as VAAI.
Her work focuses on building community and power among
Vietnamese people in Illinois through intergenerational
community engagement and leadership development.
Before joining VAI, she was a student organizer with U Chicago
United at the University of Chicago, fighting for material
(00:47):
resources and building power among students of color and the
surrounding communities. She received her bachelor's in
sociology and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies from the
University of Chicago. Lily is committed to grassroots
power building work to equip ourcommunities with tools for
healing and self determination. And today it is Thursday,
(01:08):
October 30th, 2 O 6:00 PM U.S. central Standard Time.
And Lily, I am very happy to finally connect with you.
I have been a board member with VAI for the past year and thanks
to Vaughn, who is the Executive Director, she was happy to
(01:28):
connect, connect me with you because you have been doing a
lot of community organizing workand and also because of the
current atmosphere that's going on.
The Vietnamese Association of Hillary is located in the
Chicago North Side. It's in the Uptown area and a
lot of the Vietnamese communities have kind of like
shifted, but this is where a lotof the original Southeast Asian
(01:50):
community was living in. And then it has like pushed out
into different suburbs, like more more like in Carroll St.
more in the far West suburbs as well.
But Lily, first of all, how haveyou been navigating this past
month with what's going on with both ICE raids and with the snap
(02:10):
issues that are affecting the Vietnamese communities that you
are serving? Yeah.
First of all, thank you so much for having me.
I'm also really glad to be finally connected with you and
it's definitely been a lot of just a huge sense of urgency,
(02:32):
right with things rolling out. I feel like in just this month
alone, there was so much like news and raids, right?
Every single day us like just trying to keep up with making
sure that our community is not just informed, but also prepared
(02:53):
right, to take necessary precautions and actions in order
to keep themselves safe, but also look out for one another.
So I think it's been in some ways a very fast environment,
right, in which a lot of people aside from the AI have been
(03:13):
scrambling to organize themselves, to find very
concrete sort of action steps todo in this moment.
And at the same time, I think I'm very grounded in the fact
that, you know, the work that we've been doing at VI,
especially in the past few years, to lay a strong
(03:36):
foundation for the community, organizing work with our elders,
to reconnect right with the residents of Uptown and around
Argyle. I think that served as a very
important groundwork for us to be ready for moments of crisis
like this. Yeah, Thank you.
(03:58):
And how would you describe the Vietnamese community and also
surrounding communities in the Uptown area where VAI is
located? I was wondering if you can kind
of shed some light into the communities that you have been
working connect working closely with?
Totally. Yeah, Most of the folks that
live in that area, most of the Vietnamese folks, right, are
(04:21):
elders who some of them have lived there literally since
right, the very first wave of refugees arriving in Illinois.
So we work with people who have just stayed in Uptown for 50
years. There's also majority of those
folks are low income who live inaffordable housing buildings in
(04:45):
Uptown. And I think Uptown in general,
right, the demographic of that area is very diverse.
I think it has a very special history when it comes to the
community organizing efforts there and the the ways that the
(05:06):
community historically, you know, over the past 100 years,
right, have come together to protect resources for poor
people and people of color. And in my work, right, I meet a
lot of folks who are just born and raised in that area, have
(05:27):
seen so much history, right, of how the community has been
disinvested from. And of course, Uptown, right,
has a long history of identification, right?
So in the roaring 20s, right, there's all these theaters being
built. It's, it's advertised as a huge
(05:50):
entertainment district, right? But then at the same time,
there's all this history of poorpeople of all races, right?
White, black, Indigenous, Asian,Southeast Asian refugees, right?
All kind of being put into this area and segregated into
(06:11):
specific blocks and sort of cut off, right, from the wealthy
upper class. And of course, you know, they,
they have to do what they have to do and in, in my work, right?
I think it's very interesting because I'm not from the area,
(06:33):
I'm learning a lot of this history by talking to people, of
course, reading things, educating myself, right?
And also sort of seeing the waysthat the people that we work
with lived through that history and seen it first hand, right?
But there's like certain sort ofgaps in historical knowledge,
(06:56):
right? Like the context of why things
came to be the way they are. I think there's sometimes,
right, sort of historical amnesia, which is very
dangerous. And we see this playing out even
now, right? For example, folks are aware
there's a lot of Section 8 housing in that area and
(07:20):
Vietnamese elders, right, are very reliant on that and
understand that's like a huge benefit, right, for the
community. But the missing piece, I guess,
of the story is, for example, why is it that there's all those
buildings there, right? And some of the work that we've
been doing is to show them the history of how people in the 60s
(07:46):
and 70s really had to organize, right, to secure those resources
in the area and their resources that still benefit the
community, right, 50 years later.
And in moments like this, when it's just so blatant, right, the
ways that the current federal government is very much intent
(08:10):
on cutting down all of these very important community
resources, it's been a a big opportunity for us to highlight
the ways that we can be in solidarity one another and
protect each other. And that this is not something
new, right? That people have been doing this
(08:31):
for a very long time. Yeah.
What has the reaction been from the community and what has a
communicate? What has the communication look
like to the Vietnamese communityin light of what's going on with
the ICE raids? You know, it's, there's always
(08:53):
that initial sort of denial, right?
A certain resistance, I guess, because I mean, these
conversations again are not new,right?
I think ever since even inauguration, right?
Like we've already had conversations with our folks
about what are their hopes, right?
(09:15):
Like what do they want to see inthe next 4 years?
As you know, right, a lot of ourelders tend to vote for Trump or
tend to vote read. And this is, you know, due to
very particular history, I thinkin our community around the
legacy of the Vietnam War. But I think in this moment,
(09:41):
right, it's it's it's really hard to deny the reality of
things because it's just everywhere, right?
And I feel like our people are really seeing the ways that this
is so dangerous and are genuinely freaked out, right?
(10:05):
Like not in the sense of panic, because one thing about our
people is that, you know, they, this is not new to them, right?
I, I think often times when I ask them, how do you feel?
They'll say, I'm not scared, butI'm angry, right?
That this is a huge injustice. It's not right.
(10:26):
You know, they see the little video footage, right, of being
of people being hurt, thrown on the ground, right, with tear
gas, smoke bombs, everything. I think the recent news, right,
with the representative Huang Huen being sort of intimidated
at gunpoint, right? I think was really sort of eye
(10:47):
opening for folks. And at the same time, I think
that people are a lot more resilient, I think than then
they might let on or that peoplemight assume, because I
definitely sort of get the sense, right that we're not
(11:10):
scared. We're not scared, but tell, tell
us like what to do, right? Tell us like what isn't actually
that is realistic in this momentto protect each other.
And again, it's not their first rodeo, right?
Like they've lived through many historical sort of events and
(11:30):
crises in their lives. So in some ways I've also kind
of been learning from them too, right?
To see the ways that they have very quickly, you know, called
on their neighbors, right? Like of course on VI's part, we
wanted to make sure that people understand it's not just about
(11:53):
me making phone calls to folks, right?
Like, it's also them having to call on their friends and their
friends calling on their friends, right, to make sure
that this is sort of a real network of community support
that can be as expansive as possible.
Because like you said, right, weneed people.
(12:13):
I mean, they don't only live in Uptown.
And ICE is also not only in Uptown, right?
They've been all over the state at this point.
So. I think in that sense, it's very
moving to me. I think to see the ways that
(12:35):
people have really shown up for their neighbors and friends,
that Vietnamese elders who, you know, early on in my work were
like, I don't want to talk aboutpolitics, right?
Like I don't want to, you know, I just want to come here.
I, I met a lot of them through mutual aid 1st right on mutual
(12:57):
aid program. So they'd be like, I'm just here
for. Food and I'm out and.
In these four years, I mean, I think there's such a valuable
shift in their mentality, and seeing them really embody that
in this moment is really powerful.
And how does BAI and other community partners work to
(13:18):
support the Vietnamese communitythat is now responding to the
ICE raids? Sorry, could you repeat the
question? Yes, like maybe to clarify it
with dice rates that are happening and we're seeing more
from what you said that more Vietnamese folks are starting to
(13:41):
respond and find ways to check in with neighbors, to check in
with family members. How does VAI help to bring
additional support and also maybe with community with other
community partners or the local elected, well, local elected
offices? I'm I'm very curious what the
(14:01):
what that has looked like now that the communities has
expressed a lot of concern. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. We definitely have been in
touch, right with a lot of localcommunity organizations, like
you said, the elected officials,all the aldermanic offices,
right? 464748 Ward I'm resigned upon
(14:25):
when Senator Mike Simmons, they've all been very engaged, I
think in this rapid response work and our local partners like
Advancing Justice 1 Northside ISUR right O cat.
So many organizations on our Northside have been sort of
(14:46):
building out an expansion rapid response network right to alert
each other as quickly as possible about ice activity.
And on our end, right, recently we were approached by folks from
(15:07):
Advancing Justice because someone in the community right,
had mentioned that it'd be, it would be helpful to have a
training specifically for the businesses on Argyle.
And as you know, right, a lot ofthose business owners are
Vietnamese or Chinese speakers. And I think that's why, right
(15:30):
Vincent Justice kind of wanted language support in that moment.
And at the same time, I think there was like just like a lot
of anxiety right around what washappening.
And I think for VII kind of saw our role right as the, the
bridge, I guess between a lot ofthese Vietnamese and Chinese
(15:55):
business owners and the rapid response work that's happening
on our north side. That is unfortunately right.
Sometimes isn't really tapping into these folks because you
know, you see a lot of people right now volunteering, which is
again, it's great, but a lot of them are white and the language
(16:15):
barrier, right? And sometimes the cultural
barrier even to to figure out how to talk about ICE and how to
talk about immigration news when, again, a lot of people in
our community voted for Trump, right?
So how do you kind of bridge that mental sort of this
(16:37):
disconnect, I guess? And in some ways, I think it's
also, it was a great opportunityto talk about community safety
on Argyle in general. That's something that business
owners have brought up to us in the past as well, you know,
before the ICE raids. Just like how do you build out a
(16:59):
support system in that area where business owners and local
residents, right, can all kind of support each other in keeping
the area safe? And again, that's a very loaded
question, right? Argyle Uptown, just when it
comes to safety concerns, right,it's there's a long history
(17:22):
there with gun violence, gang activity, right, and a history
of just disinvestment that leadsto safety concerns.
And so for us that those effortsto talk to the business owners
(17:46):
to not just like, I mean, of course, the very immediate
action item, right, was just letting them know the facts,
right? Like these are your actual legal
rights as business owners. These are the things that you
are, you're able to do and then you should look out for.
(18:07):
I think it was super helpful that we had the other manic
offices there to kind of reassure the owners as well
that, you know, that there's a lot of people, a lot of, I
guess, resources available for them for support.
But I think the main thing really was plugging people in,
(18:33):
right? Like plugging you into this
network, making sure that you understand it's not really just
about one person, right? Because sometimes when we're
canvassing, folks were like, oh,don't worry about me.
I don't have any undocumented staff right in my kitchen or
whatever. And so some of the work has been
(18:56):
like, oh, you know, this is not just like about you or any
individual specific case, right?It's about us coming together as
a community. To.
Look out for each other and alsounderstanding, right, that the
way ice is moving right now, they're not not worry about the
technicalities, right? It's like they're very openly
(19:17):
racially profiling folks. And this is just.
A real threat in the community, regardless of your status at
this point, right That they're literally everywhere and so.
When you're seeing. Them right like.
Tear. Gassing people, pointing guns at
people, right? And at this point, it's not just
(19:38):
Latin a folks that are being detained, right?
There's also already instances of like black people being seen,
Arab, Asian, right? Like people, again, people of
color are being very blatantly racially profiled.
So, so I guess to summarize, right, I think the work really
(20:01):
is about building relationships on top of educating folks.
Because I think it's one thing to know your rights, and I think
it's another thing right to actually.
Know the right. People to call on when something
happens, right? And moving all together so that
(20:24):
you're, you're not isolated in this moment.
Because again, I think the problem is just so large, right?
Like larger than just one specific case.
Yeah. Yeah, and.
Thank you so much for taking me through the deep, deep dive with
this. Have you gotten any reports of
(20:46):
any Vietnamese folks being violently detained by ICE?
Or what has the ICE presence look like in this Uptown
community? Yeah, we know there was.
A case of 1. Person.
At O'Hare Airport. A few months ago.
Actually during the first wave of ice rinks in early summer and
(21:12):
in Uptown specifically non. Vietnamese.
But there have been at least three people who are detained in
the area in the past. I want to say in the.
Past two weeks and in the in themonth right in October when they
have been really active on the north side.
(21:35):
There have been so many. Sightings at this point right in
the Uptown, Edgewater, Lakeview,Ravenswood, that kind of walk,
right that neighborhood area. So.
Yeah, we know that when they detained someone kind of on the
(21:55):
on Sheridan on the border of Uptown in Edgewater.
There's. I mean, there's video.
Footage right of the person trying to show his paperwork,
that he had his documents on himand I.
Just. Did not even bother to check and
just to take them anyway. So it's.
(22:22):
Yeah, it's, it's just scary. I think it's it's scary in the
sense that. We're.
We're really trying to. Drill it into folks right that.
At this point, it's not. Really about what's legal,
what's not legal, what is right or fair.
(22:44):
Right, because I think initiallyour elders response was.
You know. I have my paperwork on me,
right? I'm not undocumented.
I did everything right. I don't have to worry about
anything. And it's been made very.
Obvious. I think that that is actually
not. Enough of a.
(23:05):
Deterrent, I guess, or not enough of a safeguard for you
against ICE harassment. With the SNAP benefits about to
run out start of November, what have you gotten as far as like
feedback from the community and the communication?
What has that exchange been liketo inform community members of
(23:29):
what's going on and what has theresponse been so far?
Yeah, well, I mentioned before. Right.
That VI has a mutual aid space that we've been doing distribute
food distributions every two weeks for over 4 years now.
(23:55):
Again, that space I. Think was really.
Built out and. Maintained intentionally, right,
because that was our that has been our main vehicle to kind of
meet with people regularly, talkto them about issues in the
community and address right veryreal needs.
(24:17):
Around food. Scarcity.
A lot of our. Elders.
Go to all the food. Pantries in the area aside from
VI, right, there's so many food pantry nonprofits on our north
Side and you know throughout Chicago in general so.
Again, I know. That there's a lot of people in
(24:40):
the community that rely on SNAP benefits and also in general
right face food insecurity. So when this news.
Rolled out right. Obviously immediately.
My first thing on my mind is OK,people are going to freak out
(25:02):
and. You know, before I even.
Had to bring up the news of mutual aid which we posted this
past week. People.
Already knew. I mean, they, they came into our
space and were already starting already talking about like the
(25:23):
loss of SNAP benefits, right already?
Sort of. I could hear them trying to
explain. To their friends.
And neighbors, right What they've seen in the news when
it's going to start. When the cuts.
Right, will go into effect all these things.
So I could I can? Tell right that people are
feeling the precarity of this moment and it's.
(25:55):
It's just it's. It's hard.
I think it's hard to see. I think it's hard to.
See the way people. Are really.
Being worn down by the constant barrage right of crises.
(26:22):
I it's. Hard for me to watch.
It's definitely harder for them to live through it, right?
Because every single time. They hear something.
In the news, they're the ones who are directly affected by it
and at the same time, right. I think we we try to sort of
(26:50):
come up with solutions, right? Because at the end of the day,
again, we keep each other safe. We're the ones.
Right, taking care of each otherin this moment.
So it was also really awesome tosee the ways that people
immediately started like sharingwith each other the information
(27:12):
of all the food pantries that they know, like their addresses,
hours, right? They're like, write it down,
write it out on the board, right, so.
It's like people. Were very quick to share
information with each other. And.
I think on our end we're just trying to.
(27:35):
Dispel. Any sort of disinformation
that's out there? I'm not sure right?
If you've been seeing. The ways that like right wing
folks are talking about the SNAPbenefits and how you know that
it's just like undocumented people or people of color are
right that use SNAP and you know, just kind of live off of
(27:58):
the state and whatever, which isabsolutely not true, right?
It's like according to data. Majority.
Like 90% of SNAP benefits receivers are American citizens
and majority of folks are actually white, right?
So this whole narrative about how it's like, oh, all this
(28:20):
money right is being wasted on. Wasted on.
Undocumented people and all thatstuff is all bullshit.
And I think for. Us I'm I'm also very careful,
right to make sure that our people understand that because I
think if they hear those type oftalking points, it only further
creates division right in the community and the finger that is
(28:43):
pointed at each other rather than at the actual problem at
hand. But.
I was going to. Say, because like working,
especially from a different generation standpoint, this is
a, this is definitely been an issue for a lot of Vietnamese
(29:03):
younger generation Americans andcommunicating with their
parents, their elders because ofthe language barrier, because of
the cultural gaps. Like how has that, I know you've
kind of shed some light on this,but how has that been able to,
have you been able to feel like the gap is closing a little bit
more because there's more clarity or there's a different
(29:25):
approach and how you communicatewith the elders?
Yeah. It's really hard, I mean.
Hard in the sense that. You know, when I first came into
my role, Ivi, I definitely also held that anxiety too.
I I'm also my family, right? Came from where my dad's side is
(29:52):
from the north. I speak like a northern dialect.
I. Do not really identify as a
Vietnamese American just becausethat's not really the migration.
History. That I experienced right?
And. I I think like coming into the
(30:15):
role, I was like, there's so many.
Sensitive. Subjects right and like touchy
points that is not just about like.
Politics, but. Also like literally like the
difference in my lived experience from the lived
experience of like the folks that I work with.
(30:35):
And at the same. Time.
You know, now that I've had quite a bit of practice, just
thanks to the nature of my job. I do feel.
That it just takes. A lot of.
Patience to meet people. We're folks at.
Oh, sorry to meet people where they're.
At and. What that means right is to do.
(31:01):
The best that I. Can to not deny the reality
right when they share with me their their interpretation of
the world right and the news that they see because.
I I think like. Whenever I listen to them talk
right, I can tell that the values are the same, right?
(31:28):
For example. When we're talking about ICE
raids and we're talking about SNAP benefit cuts, right, there
was one person who was kind of, I think really agitated by
seeing like the news clips of the ICE agents in the area and
like the No Kings protests or like seeing how many people have
(31:49):
shown out to support the community and all these things.
And something in that kind of triggered in him like this.
Rant. About communism, right?
And how he really does not trustDemocrats that this is all
right. This is all like a shit.
(32:11):
Show and Democrats are to blame and like, like it just became a
the whole thing. Again.
I was not really surprised to hear it, but.
At the crux of what? He was saying though, especially
as he like. It it was.
It became very obvious later in his rant that he was not really
(32:32):
talking about Democrats, he's just talking about the Communist
Party, right? And his kind of reliving that
memory of like in the 70s, right, when he's like escaping
the regime and, and just like saying all these things and
ultimately kind of landing on the talking point of, you know,
(32:53):
the the Communist Party was not doing things for the people,
right? They were doing things for the
party. And so the reason why he's upset
with these politicians is because they're not really for
the people, right? And that he cares about the
freedom and the independence right of the people and the
(33:15):
truly democratic right regime orsociety and.
I think it. Was it was strange because
essentially he kind of talked ina circle and landed where I kind
of wanted people to land, right?In the sense of like, yeah,
let's talk about what it actually means to look out for
(33:37):
each other right now and for thepeople to come together, right?
And. Focus.
On the safety of our community and I think kind of.
A clearly right a lot. Of trauma and a lot of sort of
unprocessed feelings. Bubbled up for.
Him. But at the same time.
(33:59):
Really. This is.
Someone who has shown up very consistently in our work.
Who? Very clearly.
Cares about the community, caresabout the rights and resources
for especially for poor people, right?
So he, he is someone that I think on the surface, right,
(34:28):
people might just dismiss him asa Trump supporter because he
does support Trump. But I think when you.
Actually listen to him talk and the values that he's sharing,
right? They're very progressive, like
in the sense that, you know, he understands, right, that
everybody should have a right tofood, shelter, dignity, respect,
(34:49):
right, safety, all of those things.
So I think that's that's been myprocess, right, of like meeting
people where they're at means really trying to get to the
bottom of like, what are the values you actually hold?
Regardless of what you're. Kind of saying in terms of your
(35:09):
like political affiliations, whatever it is, right like?
At the core of it. You and I share the same values,
and that's how we can organize together, right?
Yeah, which also takes. Me how have the the Vietnamese
churches and temples been responding to this?
(35:30):
Because the Vietnamese population is also very
Catholic, which is also very rigid.
And I also know that it also plays into the Trumpism, the
anti abortion. I'm very curious about what that
outreach has looked like if you had already been outreaching
(35:50):
with these religious institutions.
Yeah, we've been outreaching. I think we've been.
Trying to build out that relationship because I know that
yeah, the church, right? The church and temple.
Chukwam Temple for example. Was.
(36:14):
Sort of very. Aligned with us.
When we went to Springfield thisyear for our annual lobbying
trip. And.
I. Think.
Both the Church and Temple righthave a strong community base.
They I have been able to sort ofconnect with some of the youth
(36:38):
actually that go to. The Vietnamese church.
The Holy child Jesus parish right and some of the staff at
the to Plum Temple. I I think that I have less of a
sense of how folks are reacting to specific ice rays.
(37:00):
But. In general, I think it's the
there there is like that. At the bottom of.
It right the shared desire to. To build up the.
Vietnamese community, The power of the Vietnamese community,
(37:21):
right in Illinois. I think I I've had less sort of
overtly political conversations,I guess with folks from either
institution. So I can't speak too much on
that. But I do.
Know that we get a lot of. Or we get some.
(37:44):
Youth both from the temple and the church, who are like, we're
always like seeking out, right? Like, where's the Vietnamese
community? How do I be part of that?
And I think in that. Sense that also has been our.
Our current efforts. To figure out how to, how to
(38:09):
politicize that process, right? That, like seeking out the
Vietnamese community, also means, you know, protecting are
the vulnerable folks in the community.
Right, defending our. Rights, Etcetera, Yeah.
Another thing that also sticks out for me with the pending SNAP
cuts are the Viet local grocery stores in in the Uptown area.
(38:36):
There's Tai Nam, there's Parked shop, there's Yikwa, and then in
the suburbs it's a Saigon Marketand then Fantique.
So I'm curious if, because this is going to be very important
because they also benefit from SNAP recipients and also with
the tariffs on top of that, which is also crippling these
(39:01):
store owners. I'm curious if you've gotten any
communication or any feedback from from these places.
Yeah. I I haven't heard.
Directly at the moment, but I, yeah, I'm also aware, right,
that the grocery stores would definitely feel a lot of this
(39:24):
burden. We've been in communication with
them because of rapid response work around ICE raids.
And I think in general, right, these grocery stores have always
been very generous with us and are aware, right of the
population that we work with andoften donate food to our mutual
(39:46):
aid space and also cultural celebrations, right, like Mid
Autumn Fest. So I definitely anticipate right
that. This the snack.
The cuts will affect not just our community members, but also
the grocery store owners as well.
(40:09):
And so moving forward, I know that VAI and other community
organizations that are connectedto this community are basically
trying to fan out every, any, all these fires, which is hard
to like put out. But what rapid responses are you
currently working on to help sustain this?
(40:32):
To sustain. This emergency response network.
Yeah, totally. I mean one thing I.
Think that we are committed to consistently doing right is like
calling on our folks. So we've built out essentially a
phone tree, right, of community members that we know live in
(40:55):
specific areas of the city, right.
And when we get alerts of ice being around those areas, we
know we're going to call and so and so and so and so will then
call right on their neighbors and etcetera, etcetera.
So at this point, we've done thenecessary like pod mapping work
(41:15):
and the building out of the phone tree so that people know
if you receive a call from us, right?
We're asking you to disseminate the information as quickly as
you can because right, like the current alerts that you.
See. Are often like on Instagram or
on social media, but you know, our folks don't use any of those
platforms. So phone calls are usually the
(41:37):
fastest way. And I think, you know, we're
continuing to educate folks, right, about the current events.
The news. And.
The the work. Right to continuously like shift
their energies and focus and understanding right of this
(41:59):
political moment I think is veryimportant.
And also. Just building out right, a base
of Vietnamese community leaders,right, who are really willing to
be engaged in advocacy work aside from the ICE rapid
response and of course like the food assistance funding loss,
(42:26):
right, and other issues as they keep rolling out.
There's also the closure of the safety nut hospital in the area
of Rice, right? That has also really affected
our community. And I think we're.
Kind of just building the capacity of our members to to.
(42:49):
To. Lead the charge right to make
sure that people can really understand why all these issues
do affect Vietnamese Americans and the Vietnamese American
community in Illinois, but also.At large because I.
Think it's, it's really easy right now to because of the
(43:12):
divisive language right in the news and in the community.
It's easy to write this off as like this is this doesn't affect
us, right? This effects like other
communities or only undocumentedpeople, criminals, whatever.
And I think the work right now is to really shift that focus
and re emphasize that no, right,Like we're not safe unless
(43:35):
everyone is safe. And this, this actually does
very directly impact our community here.
And before we wrap up, how can people support the efforts of
BAI and and the Uptown or the Vietnamese community in general
that's being affected? What?
(43:56):
What ways can people support this work?
Yeah. I mean, we have again, the bi
weekly mutual aid space. We're always looking for
volunteers. That's also the way I think that
people can really come and meet our community members, build
those relationships right, get involved.
(44:18):
We also have our elder and youthmemberships.
These are spaces for people who want to be even further engaged
in our work and support the community organizing and
advocacy efforts and always welcome fiscal donations, right.
(44:39):
We are about to launch our fundraising campaign so folks
can really follow us on Instagram for most recent
updates on the work that we're doing and any calls to actions
that that are coming up. But I think the most important I
think is just to show up and getto know your neighbors, get to
(45:00):
know the people in the communitybecause nothing can really
replace the one to one relationships that you can hold
with the people that share this this earth with you.
Yeah, I. Want to say thank you so much
for taking the time to be on my show because I know that the
work that you and your colleagues are doing is very
(45:20):
thankless. It's rapid response, mostly
sick, you know, sometimes the chaos and the capacity issues
that come with it. I mean, I've been a nonprofit
for a while, and it is not easy work to take on.
So I want to say thank you so much for really shedding a lot
of light into what is going on into our communities.
And I hope that people who are listening can find ways to help
(45:44):
support and protect community members.
And I really hope nothing more for the safety and protection of
our Vietnamese communities in Illinois, all of our communities
in Illinois, and really on the national level, because I think
that times are very dire. And I think the big take away is
there's a power of community. There's a power of
(46:04):
communication. I think that the that is very
key to, you know, surviving, butalso to strengthen those
communities, to strengthen thosemuscles and to involve people
that never thought to do anything more than just show up
at a TUT event or just pick up food and not communicate with
(46:25):
anyone else. I think the hope is that that
folks are able to engage more and to connect more and, and I
think that could be a very pivotal moment in this, in this
ongoing crisis. Yeah, totally.
Yeah, wishing. You all the.
(46:46):
Yeah, wishing you all the best and absolutely.
And I hope that people get to check out VAI.
You can check them out on socialmedia and yeah, and please
follow their work, Yeah.
Hi everyone, this is Randy Kim from the Bonnie Chronicles
podcast. In today, I am doing an
emergency episode in the coverage of the ICE raids that
have been happening throughout the Chicagoland area and I am
welcoming in Lily Lay. Lily has been a community
service manager at the Vietnamese Association of
(00:26):
Illinois, otherwise known as VAAI.
Her work focuses on building community and power among
Vietnamese people in Illinois through intergenerational
community engagement and leadership development.
Before joining VAI, she was a student organizer with U Chicago
United at the University of Chicago, fighting for material
(00:47):
resources and building power among students of color and the
surrounding communities. She received her bachelor's in
sociology and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies from the
University of Chicago. Lily is committed to grassroots
power building work to equip ourcommunities with tools for
healing and self determination. And today it is Thursday,
(01:08):
October 30th, 2 O 6:00 PM U.S. central Standard Time.
And Lily, I am very happy to finally connect with you.
I have been a board member with VAI for the past year and thanks
to Vaughn, who is the Executive Director, she was happy to
(01:28):
connect, connect me with you because you have been doing a
lot of community organizing workand and also because of the
current atmosphere that's going on.
The Vietnamese Association of Hillary is located in the
Chicago North Side. It's in the Uptown area and a
lot of the Vietnamese communities have kind of like
shifted, but this is where a lotof the original Southeast Asian
(01:50):
community was living in. And then it has like pushed out
into different suburbs, like more more like in Carroll St.
more in the far West suburbs as well.
But Lily, first of all, how haveyou been navigating this past
month with what's going on with both ICE raids and with the snap
(02:10):
issues that are affecting the Vietnamese communities that you
are serving? Yeah.
First of all, thank you so much for having me.
I'm also really glad to be finally connected with you and
it's definitely been a lot of just a huge sense of urgency,
(02:32):
right with things rolling out. I feel like in just this month
alone, there was so much like news and raids, right?
Every single day us like just trying to keep up with making
sure that our community is not just informed, but also prepared
(02:53):
right, to take necessary precautions and actions in order
to keep themselves safe, but also look out for one another.
So I think it's been in some ways a very fast environment,
right, in which a lot of people aside from the AI have been
(03:13):
scrambling to organize themselves, to find very
concrete sort of action steps todo in this moment.
And at the same time, I think I'm very grounded in the fact
that, you know, the work that we've been doing at VI,
especially in the past few years, to lay a strong
(03:36):
foundation for the community, organizing work with our elders,
to reconnect right with the residents of Uptown and around
Argyle. I think that served as a very
important groundwork for us to be ready for moments of crisis
like this. Yeah, Thank you.
(03:58):
And how would you describe the Vietnamese community and also
surrounding communities in the Uptown area where VAI is
located? I was wondering if you can kind
of shed some light into the communities that you have been
working connect working closely with?
Totally. Yeah, Most of the folks that
live in that area, most of the Vietnamese folks, right, are
(04:21):
elders who some of them have lived there literally since
right, the very first wave of refugees arriving in Illinois.
So we work with people who have just stayed in Uptown for 50
years. There's also majority of those
folks are low income who live inaffordable housing buildings in
(04:45):
Uptown. And I think Uptown in general,
right, the demographic of that area is very diverse.
I think it has a very special history when it comes to the
community organizing efforts there and the the ways that the
(05:06):
community historically, you know, over the past 100 years,
right, have come together to protect resources for poor
people and people of color. And in my work, right, I meet a
lot of folks who are just born and raised in that area, have
(05:27):
seen so much history, right, of how the community has been
disinvested from. And of course, Uptown, right,
has a long history of identification, right?
So in the roaring 20s, right, there's all these theaters being
built. It's, it's advertised as a huge
(05:50):
entertainment district, right? But then at the same time,
there's all this history of poorpeople of all races, right?
White, black, Indigenous, Asian,Southeast Asian refugees, right?
All kind of being put into this area and segregated into
(06:11):
specific blocks and sort of cut off, right, from the wealthy
upper class. And of course, you know, they,
they have to do what they have to do and in, in my work, right?
I think it's very interesting because I'm not from the area,
(06:33):
I'm learning a lot of this history by talking to people, of
course, reading things, educating myself, right?
And also sort of seeing the waysthat the people that we work
with lived through that history and seen it first hand, right?
But there's like certain sort ofgaps in historical knowledge,
(06:56):
right? Like the context of why things
came to be the way they are. I think there's sometimes,
right, sort of historical amnesia, which is very
dangerous. And we see this playing out even
now, right? For example, folks are aware
there's a lot of Section 8 housing in that area and
(07:20):
Vietnamese elders, right, are very reliant on that and
understand that's like a huge benefit, right, for the
community. But the missing piece, I guess,
of the story is, for example, why is it that there's all those
buildings there, right? And some of the work that we've
been doing is to show them the history of how people in the 60s
(07:46):
and 70s really had to organize, right, to secure those resources
in the area and their resources that still benefit the
community, right, 50 years later.
And in moments like this, when it's just so blatant, right, the
ways that the current federal government is very much intent
(08:10):
on cutting down all of these very important community
resources, it's been a a big opportunity for us to highlight
the ways that we can be in solidarity one another and
protect each other. And that this is not something
new, right? That people have been doing this
(08:31):
for a very long time. Yeah.
What has the reaction been from the community and what has a
communicate? What has the communication look
like to the Vietnamese communityin light of what's going on with
the ICE raids? You know, it's, there's always
(08:53):
that initial sort of denial, right?
A certain resistance, I guess, because I mean, these
conversations again are not new,right?
I think ever since even inauguration, right?
Like we've already had conversations with our folks
about what are their hopes, right?
(09:15):
Like what do they want to see inthe next 4 years?
As you know, right, a lot of ourelders tend to vote for Trump or
tend to vote read. And this is, you know, due to
very particular history, I thinkin our community around the
legacy of the Vietnam War. But I think in this moment,
(09:41):
right, it's it's it's really hard to deny the reality of
things because it's just everywhere, right?
And I feel like our people are really seeing the ways that this
is so dangerous and are genuinely freaked out, right?
(10:05):
Like not in the sense of panic, because one thing about our
people is that, you know, they, this is not new to them, right?
I, I think often times when I ask them, how do you feel?
They'll say, I'm not scared, butI'm angry, right?
That this is a huge injustice. It's not right.
(10:26):
You know, they see the little video footage, right, of being
of people being hurt, thrown on the ground, right, with tear
gas, smoke bombs, everything. I think the recent news, right,
with the representative Huang Huen being sort of intimidated
at gunpoint, right? I think was really sort of eye
(10:47):
opening for folks. And at the same time, I think
that people are a lot more resilient, I think than then
they might let on or that peoplemight assume, because I
definitely sort of get the sense, right that we're not
(11:10):
scared. We're not scared, but tell, tell
us like what to do, right? Tell us like what isn't actually
that is realistic in this momentto protect each other.
And again, it's not their first rodeo, right?
Like they've lived through many historical sort of events and
(11:30):
crises in their lives. So in some ways I've also kind
of been learning from them too, right?
To see the ways that they have very quickly, you know, called
on their neighbors, right? Like of course on VI's part, we
wanted to make sure that people understand it's not just about
(11:53):
me making phone calls to folks, right?
Like, it's also them having to call on their friends and their
friends calling on their friends, right, to make sure
that this is sort of a real network of community support
that can be as expansive as possible.
Because like you said, right, weneed people.
(12:13):
I mean, they don't only live in Uptown.
And ICE is also not only in Uptown, right?
They've been all over the state at this point.
So. I think in that sense, it's very
moving to me. I think to see the ways that
(12:35):
people have really shown up for their neighbors and friends,
that Vietnamese elders who, you know, early on in my work were
like, I don't want to talk aboutpolitics, right?
Like I don't want to, you know, I just want to come here.
I, I met a lot of them through mutual aid 1st right on mutual
(12:57):
aid program. So they'd be like, I'm just here
for. Food and I'm out and.
In these four years, I mean, I think there's such a valuable
shift in their mentality, and seeing them really embody that
in this moment is really powerful.
And how does BAI and other community partners work to
(13:18):
support the Vietnamese communitythat is now responding to the
ICE raids? Sorry, could you repeat the
question? Yes, like maybe to clarify it
with dice rates that are happening and we're seeing more
from what you said that more Vietnamese folks are starting to
(13:41):
respond and find ways to check in with neighbors, to check in
with family members. How does VAI help to bring
additional support and also maybe with community with other
community partners or the local elected, well, local elected
offices? I'm I'm very curious what the
(14:01):
what that has looked like now that the communities has
expressed a lot of concern. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. We definitely have been in
touch, right with a lot of localcommunity organizations, like
you said, the elected officials,all the aldermanic offices,
right? 464748 Ward I'm resigned upon
(14:25):
when Senator Mike Simmons, they've all been very engaged, I
think in this rapid response work and our local partners like
Advancing Justice 1 Northside ISUR right O cat.
So many organizations on our Northside have been sort of
(14:46):
building out an expansion rapid response network right to alert
each other as quickly as possible about ice activity.
And on our end, right, recently we were approached by folks from
(15:07):
Advancing Justice because someone in the community right,
had mentioned that it'd be, it would be helpful to have a
training specifically for the businesses on Argyle.
And as you know, right, a lot ofthose business owners are
Vietnamese or Chinese speakers. And I think that's why, right
(15:30):
Vincent Justice kind of wanted language support in that moment.
And at the same time, I think there was like just like a lot
of anxiety right around what washappening.
And I think for VII kind of saw our role right as the, the
bridge, I guess between a lot ofthese Vietnamese and Chinese
(15:55):
business owners and the rapid response work that's happening
on our north side. That is unfortunately right.
Sometimes isn't really tapping into these folks because you
know, you see a lot of people right now volunteering, which is
again, it's great, but a lot of them are white and the language
(16:15):
barrier, right? And sometimes the cultural
barrier even to to figure out how to talk about ICE and how to
talk about immigration news when, again, a lot of people in
our community voted for Trump, right?
So how do you kind of bridge that mental sort of this
(16:37):
disconnect, I guess? And in some ways, I think it's
also, it was a great opportunityto talk about community safety
on Argyle in general. That's something that business
owners have brought up to us in the past as well, you know,
before the ICE raids. Just like how do you build out a
(16:59):
support system in that area where business owners and local
residents, right, can all kind of support each other in keeping
the area safe? And again, that's a very loaded
question, right? Argyle Uptown, just when it
comes to safety concerns, right,it's there's a long history
(17:22):
there with gun violence, gang activity, right, and a history
of just disinvestment that leadsto safety concerns.
And so for us that those effortsto talk to the business owners
(17:46):
to not just like, I mean, of course, the very immediate
action item, right, was just letting them know the facts,
right? Like these are your actual legal
rights as business owners. These are the things that you
are, you're able to do and then you should look out for.
(18:07):
I think it was super helpful that we had the other manic
offices there to kind of reassure the owners as well
that, you know, that there's a lot of people, a lot of, I
guess, resources available for them for support.
But I think the main thing really was plugging people in,
(18:33):
right? Like plugging you into this
network, making sure that you understand it's not really just
about one person, right? Because sometimes when we're
canvassing, folks were like, oh,don't worry about me.
I don't have any undocumented staff right in my kitchen or
whatever. And so some of the work has been
(18:56):
like, oh, you know, this is not just like about you or any
individual specific case, right?It's about us coming together as
a community. To.
Look out for each other and alsounderstanding, right, that the
way ice is moving right now, they're not not worry about the
technicalities, right? It's like they're very openly
(19:17):
racially profiling folks. And this is just.
A real threat in the community, regardless of your status at
this point, right That they're literally everywhere and so.
When you're seeing. Them right like.
Tear. Gassing people, pointing guns at
people, right? And at this point, it's not just
(19:38):
Latin a folks that are being detained, right?
There's also already instances of like black people being seen,
Arab, Asian, right? Like people, again, people of
color are being very blatantly racially profiled.
So, so I guess to summarize, right, I think the work really
(20:01):
is about building relationships on top of educating folks.
Because I think it's one thing to know your rights, and I think
it's another thing right to actually.
Know the right. People to call on when something
happens, right? And moving all together so that
(20:24):
you're, you're not isolated in this moment.
Because again, I think the problem is just so large, right?
Like larger than just one specific case.
Yeah. Yeah, and.
Thank you so much for taking me through the deep, deep dive with
this. Have you gotten any reports of
(20:46):
any Vietnamese folks being violently detained by ICE?
Or what has the ICE presence look like in this Uptown
community? Yeah, we know there was.
A case of 1. Person.
At O'Hare Airport. A few months ago.
Actually during the first wave of ice rinks in early summer and
(21:12):
in Uptown specifically non. Vietnamese.
But there have been at least three people who are detained in
the area in the past. I want to say in the.
Past two weeks and in the in themonth right in October when they
have been really active on the north side.
(21:35):
There have been so many. Sightings at this point right in
the Uptown, Edgewater, Lakeview,Ravenswood, that kind of walk,
right that neighborhood area. So.
Yeah, we know that when they detained someone kind of on the
(21:55):
on Sheridan on the border of Uptown in Edgewater.
There's. I mean, there's video.
Footage right of the person trying to show his paperwork,
that he had his documents on himand I.
Just. Did not even bother to check and
just to take them anyway. So it's.
(22:22):
Yeah, it's, it's just scary. I think it's it's scary in the
sense that. We're.
We're really trying to. Drill it into folks right that.
At this point, it's not. Really about what's legal,
what's not legal, what is right or fair.
(22:44):
Right, because I think initiallyour elders response was.
You know. I have my paperwork on me,
right? I'm not undocumented.
I did everything right. I don't have to worry about
anything. And it's been made very.
Obvious. I think that that is actually
not. Enough of a.
(23:05):
Deterrent, I guess, or not enough of a safeguard for you
against ICE harassment. With the SNAP benefits about to
run out start of November, what have you gotten as far as like
feedback from the community and the communication?
What has that exchange been liketo inform community members of
(23:29):
what's going on and what has theresponse been so far?
Yeah, well, I mentioned before. Right.
That VI has a mutual aid space that we've been doing distribute
food distributions every two weeks for over 4 years now.
(23:55):
Again, that space I. Think was really.
Built out and. Maintained intentionally, right,
because that was our that has been our main vehicle to kind of
meet with people regularly, talkto them about issues in the
community and address right veryreal needs.
(24:17):
Around food. Scarcity.
A lot of our. Elders.
Go to all the food. Pantries in the area aside from
VI, right, there's so many food pantry nonprofits on our north
Side and you know throughout Chicago in general so.
Again, I know. That there's a lot of people in
(24:40):
the community that rely on SNAP benefits and also in general
right face food insecurity. So when this news.
Rolled out right. Obviously immediately.
My first thing on my mind is OK,people are going to freak out
(25:02):
and. You know, before I even.
Had to bring up the news of mutual aid which we posted this
past week. People.
Already knew. I mean, they, they came into our
space and were already starting already talking about like the
(25:23):
loss of SNAP benefits, right already?
Sort of. I could hear them trying to
explain. To their friends.
And neighbors, right What they've seen in the news when
it's going to start. When the cuts.
Right, will go into effect all these things.
So I could I can? Tell right that people are
feeling the precarity of this moment and it's.
(25:55):
It's just it's. It's hard.
I think it's hard to see. I think it's hard to.
See the way people. Are really.
Being worn down by the constant barrage right of crises.
(26:22):
I it's. Hard for me to watch.
It's definitely harder for them to live through it, right?
Because every single time. They hear something.
In the news, they're the ones who are directly affected by it
and at the same time, right. I think we we try to sort of
(26:50):
come up with solutions, right? Because at the end of the day,
again, we keep each other safe. We're the ones.
Right, taking care of each otherin this moment.
So it was also really awesome tosee the ways that people
immediately started like sharingwith each other the information
(27:12):
of all the food pantries that they know, like their addresses,
hours, right? They're like, write it down,
write it out on the board, right, so.
It's like people. Were very quick to share
information with each other. And.
I think on our end we're just trying to.
(27:35):
Dispel. Any sort of disinformation
that's out there? I'm not sure right?
If you've been seeing. The ways that like right wing
folks are talking about the SNAPbenefits and how you know that
it's just like undocumented people or people of color are
right that use SNAP and you know, just kind of live off of
(27:58):
the state and whatever, which isabsolutely not true, right?
It's like according to data. Majority.
Like 90% of SNAP benefits receivers are American citizens
and majority of folks are actually white, right?
So this whole narrative about how it's like, oh, all this
(28:20):
money right is being wasted on. Wasted on.
Undocumented people and all thatstuff is all bullshit.
And I think for. Us I'm I'm also very careful,
right to make sure that our people understand that because I
think if they hear those type oftalking points, it only further
creates division right in the community and the finger that is
(28:43):
pointed at each other rather than at the actual problem at
hand. But.
I was going to. Say, because like working,
especially from a different generation standpoint, this is
a, this is definitely been an issue for a lot of Vietnamese
(29:03):
younger generation Americans andcommunicating with their
parents, their elders because ofthe language barrier, because of
the cultural gaps. Like how has that, I know you've
kind of shed some light on this,but how has that been able to,
have you been able to feel like the gap is closing a little bit
more because there's more clarity or there's a different
(29:25):
approach and how you communicatewith the elders?
Yeah. It's really hard, I mean.
Hard in the sense that. You know, when I first came into
my role, Ivi, I definitely also held that anxiety too.
I I'm also my family, right? Came from where my dad's side is
(29:52):
from the north. I speak like a northern dialect.
I. Do not really identify as a
Vietnamese American just becausethat's not really the migration.
History. That I experienced right?
And. I I think like coming into the
(30:15):
role, I was like, there's so many.
Sensitive. Subjects right and like touchy
points that is not just about like.
Politics, but. Also like literally like the
difference in my lived experience from the lived
experience of like the folks that I work with.
(30:35):
And at the same. Time.
You know, now that I've had quite a bit of practice, just
thanks to the nature of my job. I do feel.
That it just takes. A lot of.
Patience to meet people. We're folks at.
Oh, sorry to meet people where they're.
At and. What that means right is to do.
(31:01):
The best that I. Can to not deny the reality
right when they share with me their their interpretation of
the world right and the news that they see because.
I I think like. Whenever I listen to them talk
right, I can tell that the values are the same, right?
(31:28):
For example. When we're talking about ICE
raids and we're talking about SNAP benefit cuts, right, there
was one person who was kind of, I think really agitated by
seeing like the news clips of the ICE agents in the area and
like the No Kings protests or like seeing how many people have
(31:49):
shown out to support the community and all these things.
And something in that kind of triggered in him like this.
Rant. About communism, right?
And how he really does not trustDemocrats that this is all
right. This is all like a shit.
(32:11):
Show and Democrats are to blame and like, like it just became a
the whole thing. Again.
I was not really surprised to hear it, but.
At the crux of what? He was saying though, especially
as he like. It it was.
It became very obvious later in his rant that he was not really
(32:32):
talking about Democrats, he's just talking about the Communist
Party, right? And his kind of reliving that
memory of like in the 70s, right, when he's like escaping
the regime and, and just like saying all these things and
ultimately kind of landing on the talking point of, you know,
(32:53):
the the Communist Party was not doing things for the people,
right? They were doing things for the
party. And so the reason why he's upset
with these politicians is because they're not really for
the people, right? And that he cares about the
freedom and the independence right of the people and the
(33:15):
truly democratic right regime orsociety and.
I think it. Was it was strange because
essentially he kind of talked ina circle and landed where I kind
of wanted people to land, right?In the sense of like, yeah,
let's talk about what it actually means to look out for
(33:37):
each other right now and for thepeople to come together, right?
And. Focus.
On the safety of our community and I think kind of.
A clearly right a lot. Of trauma and a lot of sort of
unprocessed feelings. Bubbled up for.
Him. But at the same time.
(33:59):
Really. This is.
Someone who has shown up very consistently in our work.
Who? Very clearly.
Cares about the community, caresabout the rights and resources
for especially for poor people, right?
So he, he is someone that I think on the surface, right,
(34:28):
people might just dismiss him asa Trump supporter because he
does support Trump. But I think when you.
Actually listen to him talk and the values that he's sharing,
right? They're very progressive, like
in the sense that, you know, he understands, right, that
everybody should have a right tofood, shelter, dignity, respect,
(34:49):
right, safety, all of those things.
So I think that's that's been myprocess, right, of like meeting
people where they're at means really trying to get to the
bottom of like, what are the values you actually hold?
Regardless of what you're. Kind of saying in terms of your
(35:09):
like political affiliations, whatever it is, right like?
At the core of it. You and I share the same values,
and that's how we can organize together, right?
Yeah, which also takes. Me how have the the Vietnamese
churches and temples been responding to this?
(35:30):
Because the Vietnamese population is also very
Catholic, which is also very rigid.
And I also know that it also plays into the Trumpism, the
anti abortion. I'm very curious about what that
outreach has looked like if you had already been outreaching
(35:50):
with these religious institutions.
Yeah, we've been outreaching. I think we've been.
Trying to build out that relationship because I know that
yeah, the church, right? The church and temple.
Chukwam Temple for example. Was.
(36:14):
Sort of very. Aligned with us.
When we went to Springfield thisyear for our annual lobbying
trip. And.
I. Think.
Both the Church and Temple righthave a strong community base.
They I have been able to sort ofconnect with some of the youth
(36:38):
actually that go to. The Vietnamese church.
The Holy child Jesus parish right and some of the staff at
the to Plum Temple. I I think that I have less of a
sense of how folks are reacting to specific ice rays.
(37:00):
But. In general, I think it's the
there there is like that. At the bottom of.
It right the shared desire to. To build up the.
Vietnamese community, The power of the Vietnamese community,
(37:21):
right in Illinois. I think I I've had less sort of
overtly political conversations,I guess with folks from either
institution. So I can't speak too much on
that. But I do.
Know that we get a lot of. Or we get some.
(37:44):
Youth both from the temple and the church, who are like, we're
always like seeking out, right? Like, where's the Vietnamese
community? How do I be part of that?
And I think in that. Sense that also has been our.
Our current efforts. To figure out how to, how to
(38:09):
politicize that process, right? That, like seeking out the
Vietnamese community, also means, you know, protecting are
the vulnerable folks in the community.
Right, defending our. Rights, Etcetera, Yeah.
Another thing that also sticks out for me with the pending SNAP
cuts are the Viet local grocery stores in in the Uptown area.
(38:36):
There's Tai Nam, there's Parked shop, there's Yikwa, and then in
the suburbs it's a Saigon Marketand then Fantique.
So I'm curious if, because this is going to be very important
because they also benefit from SNAP recipients and also with
the tariffs on top of that, which is also crippling these
(39:01):
store owners. I'm curious if you've gotten any
communication or any feedback from from these places.
Yeah. I I haven't heard.
Directly at the moment, but I, yeah, I'm also aware, right,
that the grocery stores would definitely feel a lot of this
(39:24):
burden. We've been in communication with
them because of rapid response work around ICE raids.
And I think in general, right, these grocery stores have always
been very generous with us and are aware, right of the
population that we work with andoften donate food to our mutual
(39:46):
aid space and also cultural celebrations, right, like Mid
Autumn Fest. So I definitely anticipate right
that. This the snack.
The cuts will affect not just our community members, but also
the grocery store owners as well.
(40:09):
And so moving forward, I know that VAI and other community
organizations that are connectedto this community are basically
trying to fan out every, any, all these fires, which is hard
to like put out. But what rapid responses are you
currently working on to help sustain this?
(40:32):
To sustain. This emergency response network.
Yeah, totally. I mean one thing I.
Think that we are committed to consistently doing right is like
calling on our folks. So we've built out essentially a
phone tree, right, of community members that we know live in
(40:55):
specific areas of the city, right.
And when we get alerts of ice being around those areas, we
know we're going to call and so and so and so and so will then
call right on their neighbors and etcetera, etcetera.
So at this point, we've done thenecessary like pod mapping work
(41:15):
and the building out of the phone tree so that people know
if you receive a call from us, right?
We're asking you to disseminate the information as quickly as
you can because right, like the current alerts that you.
See. Are often like on Instagram or
on social media, but you know, our folks don't use any of those
platforms. So phone calls are usually the
(41:37):
fastest way. And I think, you know, we're
continuing to educate folks, right, about the current events.
The news. And.
The the work. Right to continuously like shift
their energies and focus and understanding right of this
(41:59):
political moment I think is veryimportant.
And also. Just building out right, a base
of Vietnamese community leaders,right, who are really willing to
be engaged in advocacy work aside from the ICE rapid
response and of course like the food assistance funding loss,
(42:26):
right, and other issues as they keep rolling out.
There's also the closure of the safety nut hospital in the area
of Rice, right? That has also really affected
our community. And I think we're.
Kind of just building the capacity of our members to to.
(42:49):
To. Lead the charge right to make
sure that people can really understand why all these issues
do affect Vietnamese Americans and the Vietnamese American
community in Illinois, but also.At large because I.
Think it's, it's really easy right now to because of the
(43:12):
divisive language right in the news and in the community.
It's easy to write this off as like this is this doesn't affect
us, right? This effects like other
communities or only undocumentedpeople, criminals, whatever.
And I think the work right now is to really shift that focus
and re emphasize that no, right,Like we're not safe unless
(43:35):
everyone is safe. And this, this actually does
very directly impact our community here.
And before we wrap up, how can people support the efforts of
BAI and and the Uptown or the Vietnamese community in general
that's being affected? What?
(43:56):
What ways can people support this work?
Yeah. I mean, we have again, the bi
weekly mutual aid space. We're always looking for
volunteers. That's also the way I think that
people can really come and meet our community members, build
those relationships right, get involved.
(44:18):
We also have our elder and youthmemberships.
These are spaces for people who want to be even further engaged
in our work and support the community organizing and
advocacy efforts and always welcome fiscal donations, right.
(44:39):
We are about to launch our fundraising campaign so folks
can really follow us on Instagram for most recent
updates on the work that we're doing and any calls to actions
that that are coming up. But I think the most important I
think is just to show up and getto know your neighbors, get to
(45:00):
know the people in the communitybecause nothing can really
replace the one to one relationships that you can hold
with the people that share this this earth with you.
Yeah, I. Want to say thank you so much
for taking the time to be on my show because I know that the
work that you and your colleagues are doing is very
(45:20):
thankless. It's rapid response, mostly
sick, you know, sometimes the chaos and the capacity issues
that come with it. I mean, I've been a nonprofit
for a while, and it is not easy work to take on.
So I want to say thank you so much for really shedding a lot
of light into what is going on into our communities.
And I hope that people who are listening can find ways to help
(45:44):
support and protect community members.
And I really hope nothing more for the safety and protection of
our Vietnamese communities in Illinois, all of our communities
in Illinois, and really on the national level, because I think
that times are very dire. And I think the big take away is
there's a power of community. There's a power of
(46:04):
communication. I think that the that is very
key to, you know, surviving, butalso to strengthen those
communities, to strengthen thosemuscles and to involve people
that never thought to do anything more than just show up
at a TUT event or just pick up food and not communicate with
(46:25):
anyone else. I think the hope is that that
folks are able to engage more and to connect more and, and I
think that could be a very pivotal moment in this, in this
ongoing crisis. Yeah, totally.
Yeah, wishing. You all the.
(46:46):
Yeah, wishing you all the best and absolutely.
And I hope that people get to check out VAI.
You can check them out on socialmedia and yeah, and please
follow their work, Yeah.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Ruthie's Table 4
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.